Vol. 5, No. 5, May 2008
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Turning Thirty
As we began compiling information for this issue, I felt like Governor Jon Corzine when he referred to the financing of casino projects: “This actually is something I know something about.”
I was wrong. I lived through 30 years of gaming in Atlantic City as an employee or journalist, but I didn’t know everything—far from it. Even things I thought I knew, I misinterpreted or forgot. So I was struck by a story Steve Perskie told me after our interview (go to www.casinoconnectionac.com and click on Boardwalk Podcast for the interviews conducted for this issue). Judge Perskie told me about the time a man approached to thank him for helping to craft and pass the Casino Control Act. That man said he and all his family have benefited from gaming in Atlantic City, through jobs and other by-products.
I could say the same. I moved here after the ’76 referendum looking for a better life, a chance to be a professional musician playing the lounges and showrooms. Obviously, that never happened. But it did propel me into employment at Caesars Boardwalk Regency, the Golden Nugget and, for a short time, at Showboat. Since then, I’ve spent more than 20 years covering gaming as a journalist, mostly in Atlantic City. My life has been completely changed and enriched by gaming, but I’m not the only one—not by a long shot.
Everyone reading this magazine has been affected by what happened in New Jersey more than 30 years ago. Everyone, from the room attendants to the company chairmen, would not be the same if not for Atlantic City.
Take Steve Wynn. He had the foresight to be one of the early entrants into Atlantic City. He made a boatload of money and his sale of the Golden Nugget to Bally’s in 1987 laid the groundwork for—and financed—the Mirage and everything he has accomplished since then.
Donald Trump was a successful New York developer before he came to Atlantic City in 1984, but it was the visibility he achieved here—running some of the most successful casinos, and staging legendary boxing matches—that propelled him onto the front pages.
A slew of the world’s top gaming executives—from Terry Lanni to Bill Weidner and more—began their professional careers in earnest at Caesars. And when I visit the casinos where I once worked, I see dozens of former co-workers whose lives were changed by this industry, not only by the work and camaraderie but by the salaries and potential for advancement. Those who claim the gaming industry only produces entry-level jobs need to meet some of the fine people who took those entry-level jobs and made something of their lives.
And it didn’t always take an MBA. What other industry enables you to advance from minimum wage to high-level management without much formal education? This happens frequently in the gaming industry. But having an education is always a positive. And most casinos will pay for your schooling if it means you’ll come back to them a richer, more well-rounded employee or executive. Bravo to the folks who take advantage of that benefit. I travel frequently in my role as publisher for the industry’s leading trade magazines. And in every corner of the world, I find a veteran of Atlantic City—Mark Brown in Macau; Keith Crosby in Mississippi; Don Marrandino in Las Vegas; Bob DeSalvio in Pennsylvania; Mitchell Etess in Connecticut; Jim Allen in Florida; Tony Celona in New York; Jim Rafferty in New Hampshire. The list goes on and on.
So as we celebrate 30 years of gaming and what it’s done for this community, I prefer to focus on what it’s done for some great people who first got a chance to shine by working in Atlantic City.
